Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Secret recording sheds light on Zac Goldsmith tax evasion case

Secret recording sheds light on Zac Goldsmith tax evasion case

Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein told police officer tax evasion case could kill Tory’s career

Zac Goldsmith faces fresh questions about his involvement in a multimillion-pound tax evasion scheme in Spain after a family friend was secretly recorded trying to enlist a police officer to help “resolve” the case.

The family friend, businesswoman Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, the ex-lover of Spain’s former King Juan Carlos, was recorded telling the senior police officer the Conservative politician’s career would be “dead” if details of the case became public.

The Guardian has obtained a copy of the recording, which was made in April 2015 as Goldsmith campaigned in the general election to retain his seat as an MP.


At the time, the police officer, José Manuel Villarejo, was combining his official duties with a now-notorious side business providing covert services to wealthy and powerful private clients in Spain.

The covert recording captures Villarejo suggesting to Sayn-Wittgenstein he would be “delighted” to help Zac Goldsmith and his brother, Ben, in their dispute with the tax authorities.

A Spanish judge who later reviewed the recording in a separate case unrelated to the Goldsmiths’ legal issues concluded there was no evidence Villarejo undertook any work on behalf of the Goldsmith brothers. Ben Goldsmith said they did not ask Sayn-Wittgenstein to contact Villarejo.
Advertisement

However, the secret recording sheds new light on the Spanish tax dispute and is likely to place further pressure on Goldsmith to address the case, which involves land linked to his family’s sprawling Costa del Sol estate, where Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie, stayed on holiday in October.

The Marbella estate Boris Johnson stayed in.


The Guardian revealed last year that Spanish courts had ruled that property companies owned by Goldsmith and his brother engaged in a €24m tax evasion scheme.

Zac Goldsmith, a close ally of Johnson, has repeatedly declined to answer questions about the scheme, which courts have ruled amounted to a deliberate effort to evade tax and a “serious” violation of the law.

Documents suggest that by the end of 2021 companies connected to Zac and Ben Goldsmith owed as much as €26m (£21m) to the Spanish state in unpaid taxes and fines.

At the time of the recording – which Villarejo secretly made during a visit to Sayn-Wittgenstein’s £3.2m apartment in Belgravia – the tax case was winding its way through Spain’s lower courts, potentially threatening Zac Goldsmith’s political career. Just a few months later, he announced his bid to become London’s mayor.

A friend of Sayn-Wittgenstein is believed to have arranged the meeting with Villarejo due to concerns about the safety of her family after the end of her relationship with Juan Carlos.

Sipping green tea, Villarejo explained to Sayn-Wittgenstein that alongside his police duties he worked for private clients, boasting he had “a better intelligence service” than the Spanish government.

Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.


“I have the infrastructure, I have electronic stuff, I have hackers and all that,” he told her. “I have tough people, serious people, and people who don’t exist.”

Villarejo agreed to help Sayn-Wittgenstein through his secretive law firm, named Stuart & Mckenzie, telling her there was “zero risk” in using his law firm since its operatives – including “former members of the CIA and FBI” – never knew the identities of his clients.

After almost an hour, Sayn-Wittgenstein and the friend, who was also present at the meeting, brought up a different topic: the Goldsmiths.

Sayn-Wittgenstein told Villarejo that Ben Goldsmith had visited her two days earlier and was concerned the tax case could harm his brother politically.

“What is his worry? His brother, Zac, is a Conservative MP,” Sayn-Wittgenstein told Villarejo. If the newspapers discovered the case, she added: “He’s dead. Company in the Cayman Islands, blah, blah, blah.”

Sayn-Wittgenstein’s mention of the Cayman Islands appears to be a reference to the offshore trust structure which, documents suggest, the Goldsmith family used to hold their property interests in Spain.

Asked to explain how Villarejo could help, Sayn-Wittgenstein and her associate told Villarejo that Ben Goldsmith was “re-evaluating the situation” in the wake of a recent court ruling that had gone in the Goldsmith brothers’ favour.

Explaining that Ben Goldsmith had asked to wait a few days, Sayn-Wittgenstein added: “Then he will come to us to see if we can help him resolve the case.”

Villarejo suggested to Sayn-Wittgenstein the brothers should contact his law firm. A source close to Sayn-Wittgenstein, a longstanding friend of Goldsmith family, said: “Ben never came back to Corinna on the issue because he wasn’t interested so that was the end of it.”

In a statement, Ben Goldsmith said neither he nor his brother, Zac, contacted Villarejo or his law firm. “We never approached any of the people you mention nor did we ever ask Corinna Sayn-Wittgenstein to do so.”

José Manuel Villarejo (front row, centre).


He said he once mentioned the tax case to Sayn-Wittgenstein at a social dinner. “It was only a number of years later that I found out from an article in the Spanish press that Corinna had taken it upon herself, without telling me, to find out more about our case and to see if she could help.”

Villarejo is now at the centre of a sweeping corruption scandal in Spain and currently on trial for charges including bribery and influence-peddling. He has denied wrongdoing, but did not respond to requests for comment.

His secret recording provides fresh insight into the tax dispute that ensnared the two firms co-owned by the Tory minister and his brother. Sayn-Wittgenstein explained to Villarejo the trouble began when the two brothers “bought some land” from their family. “They’ve done a financial operation to do a development,” she said.

On paper, the land was transferred in 2008 – two years before Zac Goldsmith became an MP – from one Goldsmith-owned company to another.

Court documents and land registry records suggest the land was segregated from a large area of land that forms part of the Goldsmith family’s sprawling estate in the hills surrounding the mountain village of Benahavís, near Marbella.

In 2013, Spain’s tax agency ordered the two Goldsmith-owned companies involved in the property transfer to pay a combined €24m in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties.

A Swiss lawyer for one of the companies involved previously denied the case amounted to “tax evasion”. Ben Goldsmith described the Spanish tax agency’s case as absurd and based “on a single and incorrect” valuation of land.

Inspectors alleged the companies significantly undervalued the value of the land when it was transferred between them, and failed to properly declare the financial gains arising from the deal by filing inaccurate tax returns

The Goldsmith companies appealed, but successive Spanish civil courts have found the deal allowed the companies to evade millions in taxes. Subsequent attempts to appeal at Spain’s supreme court failed in 2019.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Budapest Central European Fashion Week Kicks Off
U.S. Celebrates Labor Day
Hungarian National Team Captain Scores Epic Goal
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Japanese Customer Sways from VW to BYD after “Unbelievable” Test Drive amid Dealership Expansion
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
White House Eyes Budapest for Peace Talks
Cave Diving Beneath the Streets of Budapest
Another American Restaurant Chain Opens in Budapest
Hungarian Opposition Politician Supports Ukrainian Commander
Opposition Leader Threatens Media Outlets
American Airlines Adds New Flights to Budapest
F1 Hungarian Grand Prix Wraps Up
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
U.S. Trade Representative says Washington still negotiating trade deals after court rules tariffs illegal
Von der Leyen says Europe drawing up 'precise' plans to send troops to Ukraine
Kremlin accuses Europe of hindering Trump’s peace efforts in Ukraine
×